


Mudblood/Pureblood Year 2

by Chromatic_Spark



Series: Mudblood/Pureblood [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Basilisk - Freeform, Draco Malfoy is clueless, Empath, Evil, F/M, Freeform, Harry Potter is clueless, Hogwarts, Horror, Hufflepuff, Magic, Magic Users, Mystery, Orphan - Freeform, Snakes, Spiders, emphatic, hermione granger is a brat, horcrux, hufflepuff pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromatic_Spark/pseuds/Chromatic_Spark
Summary: Fay joins the second year at Hogwarts. Odd friendships form while something malevolent begins to attack students.(NB: as a small aside this is a non-TERF space. I do not agree with the views of JKR nor will I engage in debate about them. You can appreciate art but not the artist, be nice to each other folks)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Mudblood/Pureblood [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003077
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

I was not welcome back at St Bart's, that much was abundantly clear. The second I got back Matron confiscated everything from Hogwarts, including my wand, and locked them in her office.   
My bed had been given to another girl and they gave me a room of my own, a cleaned out broom cupboard on the third floor. I had a bed and a box, that was it. Bare walls, a tiny window that didn’t close properly, flickering fluorescent light, and a door that could be locked.   
At night I was locked in, if I needed to get out to use the bathroom I had to shout until my voice broke. Eventually, they gave me a bucket.   
I was a prisoner.   
Understandably I spent as much time as I could away from the home. I walked around the little town and the surrounding countryside. Any friends I’d had previously were convinced I was some kind of nutcase.   
I was only at the home to sleep, eat, and complete my chores. That was it, no matter the weather. The children were suspicious, scared, or just outright hostile towards me. Someone tripped me down the main stairs after I’d been back just a few days and I hit my face on the edge of one of the steps. I had a bruise the size of my fist with a cut in the middle centered on my cheekbone.   
I received the letter inviting me back along with a bundle of books and other things I needed on the anniversary of Professor Sprout’s visit last year. I barely got a look at any of it before it was locked away. The letter stated I needed to read all the books by the start of term. Matron didn’t care.  
I left the home that day and walked until my feet were sore. I sat down by the side of a country road and wrapped my arms around my knees. I missed Hogwarts with a passion, sure there were bullies there but at least I had a bit of my own space, and the freedom to learn. I wanted my wand back. I wanted to hex the lot of them and run off into the night.  
“Hey!” I heard a voice and looked u and down the deserted road, expecting a cyclist or something but there was no one there. “Up here, stupid.”  
I looked up and there, hovering twenty feet off the ground on a broomstick was none other than Draco Malfoy. I gawped at him and he laughed before doing a loop on the air and landing in front of me.   
“Draco? What are you doing here?” I managed to say and he scoffed at me.  
“I live here, what are you doing here?”  
“Wait. You live here?” He laughed at me and pointed off down the road.  
“Down there, about ten minutes flight.”  
“Oh.”  
“What about you? Why are you sitting in the dirt?” I scrambled up.  
“I uh- I live at St Bart's its a few miles that way, in the town. I had no idea you lived so close.” He laughed at me.  
“Why would you? We don’t mix with muggles.”  
I had no answer to that. He looked closer and his smile faded.  
“What happened there?” He pointed at the bruise on my face, it was still dark and painful but most of the swelling had gone down. I turned so it was harder to see. I could feel anger coming from him, it was oddly comforting to have him angry on my account.  
“I- I fell.” not a lie. He narrowed his eyes at me but didn’t call me out on it.  
“Why didn’t you heal it? You’re so good at potions, brew one up and get rid of it.”  
“I uh-” I bit my lip and looked down.   
“What?”  
“That is the-” I took a breath. “The matron locked up all my magic things. I haven’t got anything to make it with or in.” I admitted, my words tumbling over each other. I blinked away shamed tears.  
“Oh.” There it was, pity, a great wave of it. It made me feel ill.  
There was an awkward silence for a minute I needed to break it.  
“Is that your new broom?” I pointed at the thing in his hands and his face lit up.  
“Yeah! It’s a Nimbus 2001 awesome right?” He held it up for me to inspect. It was shiny and black with silver stirrups and sleek bristles.  
“Is it fast?” I asked and the awkwardness from before was forgotten as he gushed about how good the broom was, especially compared to the Nimbus 200 (the previous model owned by a Mr Potter).  
“Do you want to try?” He was being unusually generous here, likely due to the pity I could still feel touching the edge of his thoughts.  
“No. I’ll just fall off and break my leg. I’m no good at flying.” I laughed and he grinned at me.  
He mounted the broom and then held out his hand.  
“Come on!”  
“What?” I shuffled back an inch but he grinned wider.  
“Get on, scaredy-cat.”   
I tentatively did as he said, putting my hands on his waist.  
I yelped when he kicked off the ground and had to wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his shoulder. He laughed as he took off across the fields.  
It took a moment but I sat up a bit more and learned to lean with him as he flew. It was exhilarating to go so fast, so high up. His excitement and joy wiped out my fear and I laughed with him, whooping as he did loops and swooped towards the ground at breakneck speed.  
“Where are you taking me?” I shouted after a while but he didn’t answer.  
In the distance, getting closer was a huge stately home. Grey stone with glittering windows. We flew over the long winding drive and high hedges and landed in the garden. I fell off and landed on my butt on the grass and he laughed at me.   
“Draco? Whatever do you think you’re doing? Who is that?” A beautiful woman with long black hair, streaked with white, jumped up from a seat on the patio and stormed towards us. I got up quickly and stood with my hands at my sides.  
“It’s okay Mother, She’s a witch.” He tried to calm her but it had little effect. “She goes to Hogwarts, in my year.”  
“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy,” I said and bobbed a little. This seemed to placate her slightly, her anger became mingled with curiosity. She took in my appearance, grass-stained jeans, a too big green tee, and scuffed trainers. Along with my windswept hair and bruised face, I must have looked the exact opposite of Draco in his smart trousers and sweater.  
“What’s your name, girl?”   
“Fay Smith, ma’am.” She nods.   
“Smith? Not a name I’m familiar with. Who are your parents?”  
“Mother.” Draco rolls his eyes.  
“I- I don’t know, ma’am.” I know I’m blushing.   
“What?” She’s angry and confused but curiosity is winning out.  
“I-” I start but Draco interrupts me.  
“Mother! Fay’s parents are dead, no idea who they are. Happy now?” He snaps.  
“Draco, mind your manners!” She growls as a blush spreads over what feels like my entire body. “An orphan, you poor dear.” Her voice softens and she leans down to me in a more motherly stance. I don’t trust it, seeing through her false change in attitude.   
“Fay helped me with Potions last year. Can she just stay for a bit?” Draco was huffing like a much younger child but I saw something flare in his mother, the need to please him.   
“Well, alright. But just for a couple of hours.” She straightens up. “And no wondering off alone, understand young lady?”  
“Yes, ma’am.” I manage to say as Draco grabs my arm and tows me away.  
He takes me through the double doors at the end of the large paved patio. The house is luxurious beyond any of my imaginings. Huge dark antiques sit in formation, paintings of family and historical figures hang from the walls and huge fountains of rare blooms sit in priceless vases everywhere.   
I don’t get much of a chance to see anything as he pulls me through the house and up a flight of stairs that put the huge ones at Hogwarts to shame.  
Eventually, he stops and near enough kicks open a door, pulls me inside and slams it shut.  
He’s irritated, but not with me. The idea of not having his own way had irked him even though he won. He tosses his broom into the corner and sits down heavily on his huge comfortable looking bed.   
I’ve never felt so out of place as I did then. His room was big and full to the brim with anything a child could want. The walls were covered in posters of Quidditch players, they looked like they were swooping around the room and I was looking at them through little windows. There were toys galore, ones that I would never have known when I was younger, and a desk covered in books and parchment. I wanted to investigate everything but I was aware that this was his space and didn’t want to intrude.   
“Uh! She’s always trying to stop me from doing what I want. You’re lucky, no one to ever tell you not to do something.” He flung himself back onto the sheets.  
“True, but I sleep in a broom closet.” I joke and he sits up again abruptly.  
“Really?” I nod and he looks confused.  
“Are these books for next year?” I point at the stack on the edge of the desk.   
“No, we’re going tomorrow to get them. Those are some stuff Father wanted me to read.”  
“Oh.” I try to smile.   
“But you can take a look if you want.”  
“Thanks.” I pick the first one off the pile, aware that he’s watching me like I’m some strange alien creature. I doubt I’m the first person he’s had in his room but I’m likely the first ‘Lower class’ person.  
The title of the book is emblazoned in gold on the black leather cover ‘Natures Nobility’. It was a book detailing the lineage of all the great wizarding families. I flicked through and smiled at the names I recognized. Crabbe, Abbott, Weasley, Potter, and of course Malfoy.  
“Father wants me to learn that stuff so I know a pure-blood quickly.” Draco gets up and looks over my shoulder, I feel happiness from him as he sees I’m on the section about his family. “It's all so boring though.”  
“Well, it says here that your family came across with Willam the Conqueror. That’s pretty interesting.” I point to the part of the page saying this and her peers at it.  
“So what?”  
“So that means your ancestors were in all those big battles that muggles learn about at school and build museums and statues for.”   
“Really… Okay, that is pretty cool.”   
“I wonder if I’m connected to any of these big families. Maybe I’m like your eighth cousin or something.” I joke and he steps back, humming with one hand on his chin as he exaggeratedly examined me.  
“Nah, you haven’t got the hair, eyes, or mouth of a Malfoy. Plus you’re a Hufflepuff.” He was smirking again. I shut the book with a snap.  
“And what’s wrong with being a Hufflepuff.” I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes at him.  
“Nothing, as long as you’re happy being a bumbling badger.”  
“Better than a sneaky snake.” I retort and he clutches his chest Iike I shot him. I put the book back on the stack. “Doesn't matter anyway. I’ll never know, I guess you should go back to calling me ‘Mudblood’.”  
“I prefer ‘Scum’.” He jokes and I throw a balled-up bit of parchment at him. He throws it back and soon we’re giggling and screaming as we pelt each other with bits of paper, parchment, and anything else.  
The door slams open, putting a stop to our fun.  
“What is the meaning of all this racket?” In the doorway stands the imposing figure of Draco’s father, Lucius Malfoy.  
I stood up from where I’d been hiding behind a chair and bowed my head respectfully.  
“Who is this?” He pointed his cane at me and I had to stop myself from shaking. His anger and instant hatred of me were overwhelming.   
“Fay Smith, sir.” I whimpered. “Apologises for the noise and the mess. I’ll tidy it up.”  
“Draco, you know better than to bring… people into our home.” The unspoken insult was loud and clear.  
“Father, She’s at school with me. She helped me pass some of my classes. Mother said it was okay.” Draco spoke up but I was frozen to the spot. No one knew I was here. This man would happily kill me with a flick of his wand and leave me in the woods.   
“I don’t know of any ‘Smith’ family.”   
“Ugh, again with this?” Draco snapped and explained my situation to his father who relaxed a little. I was no longer necessarily a ‘mudblood’.  
“Hmmm, yes a great number of pure-blood witches and wizards did go missing at the end of the… unpleasantness before you were born. It’s not inconceivable you may be a distant relative of one of the great families.” He conceded. “Very well, you may stay but no more shrieking.”  
He left, slamming the door shut behind him. I almost felt faint.  
“Father can be a bit forceful, can’t he? Draco joked.   
“And then some.” I smiled weakly at him and started picking up the paper we’d thrown. He just watched me for a moment while I got all of it into a wastebasket. I didn’t expect that he’d help. After all, mudblood or not, I was beneath him.   
“Let’s go outside.” He said, picking his broom back up and leaving, expecting me to follow.  
He took me back out and led me further from the house to a small shed. His mother watched us from the patio but said nothing.   
Draco unlocked the shed and pulled out an older broom, thrusting it into my hands before rummaging for something else.  
“What are we doing?”  
“I’m going to be the seeker for Slytherin this year, you’re going to help me train.”  
“Oh.” That was all I could say. He was so used to everyone doing what he wanted he didn’t ask if I would like to help him. He just assumed. Not much point in arguing. “I’m not very good at flying.”  
“You just need to hover and throw stuff.” He dismissed my concerns as he dragged a chest out of the shed and kicked it open. Inside were dozens of old beaten up bludgers and quaffles. He pulled out a decent looking quaffle and handed it to me.   
“Here. You go and hover over there and throw this. I need to catch it and throw it back. Simple right?”  
I mounted the broom and, clumsily, headed to the corner of the field he’d pointed to. I watched as he mounted the sleek black broom and flew gracefully up into the sky. He waved and I tossed the quaffle as hard as I could away from me. He swooped down and caught it with a laugh and threw it back.  
We continued with that for quite some time. I threw and he would catch it and throw it back. Eventually, he coaxed me higher so I could throw at different angles. Weirdly this was mocking me more comfortable on the broom as well.  
I sharted to use it to help me catch and he grinned as we began simply playing catch. He would throw and I’d fly to catch it then I’d throw and he’d do the same. Several times when I missed he would zip past me and catch it himself with a roar of triumph.   
I didn’t notice but we were so caught up in our game that we were headed higher and higher.  
“Draco!” Come down here, it's going to rain!” His mother called and he shouted down, negotiating for another few minutes.   
I realized I was twice as high as the house now and got a little scared, but didn’t want to admit it. Draco tossed the ball one last time at me and in my enthusiasm to catch it I lost my grip on the broom.   
I landed on the grass with a thud, I was lucky, I’d swooped down to catch the quaffle and only fell ten or so foot in the end. I was only dazed and a little bruised but not harmed.  
“My goodness! Are you alright?” Mrs Malfoy got there first and helped me sit up, brushing some grass from my back.  
“Yes, thank you. Just a bit winded.” I reassure and she smiled at me. It was a nice smile, a motherly smile. Nothing but real sincere concern there for me to see.  
“Hey, Smith! You’re supposed to stay on the broom you know?” Draco landed next to me and offered me his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. He had been scared for me.   
“Yeah well, I told you I’m no good on a broom. I’m just too clumsy.” I replied.  
“Oh? Is that how you got that bruise?” His mother asked, standing and brushing down her smark black dress.   
“Umm…” I didn’t want to answer that.  
“You up for another throw?” Draco diverted the question, much to my relief.   
“Now, Draco, I said it's going to rain didn’t I?” Her mother crossed her arms and he rolled his eyes.  
“I should be going anyway. Thank you very much for letting me stay, Mrs Malfoy.” I did my best to be polite and she smiled again.  
Draco grumbled but I helped him tidy away his Quidditch things (actually I did the tidying and he watched) and he led me through the house to the front door.  
“Have you got far to walk?” His mother asked as the first few drops of rain tapped the windows.  
“A bit, should take me an hour or so,” I said and reached for the door handle.   
“An hour! In this weather? No, I won’t hear of it.”  
Draco looked embarrassed and I tried to explain that it was okay and I didn’t mind the rain but she just wouldn’t accept it. She asked if my house was on the floo network so I had to explain where I lived, didn't have a chimney and was a muggle children’s home.   
“Fine. Lucius!” She called and Draco’s father emerged from a room upstairs, presumably his study. “I’m taking the car to drop off Draco’s little friend. Be back soon.”  
Before he could answer she hustled us to a huge garage and practically forced me into the backseat of the most amazing car I’d ever seen. It was long and black and so sleek. It was like something out of a gangster film. There were no seatbelts but I doubted this car would ever get in an accident.   
To my surprise, Draco slid in next to me as his mother settled up front. She pressed a button and a driver winked into existence. He tipped his hat to her and she repeated the address I’d told her. Of course, the car was magic, I don’t know why I’d thought otherwise.  
The driver took us up the drive and I couldn’t help but smile.  
“You’re so lucky.” I murmured to Draco he looked surprised but pleased. “This is a beautiful car, Mrs Malfoy,” I said more loudly.  
She spent most of the journey explaining how expensive and rare the car was and then going on to list the few other people who had one. An exclusive set of people I had no doubt. Draco rolled his eyes and looked out the window while I asked the correct polite questions at the right time. One thing they teach orphans and other kids in the system, be polite to rich people, they may get a sudden attack of charity.  
The car pulled up outside St Barts, the squat brick building looking ever more prison-like in the rain.   
“There you go, perhaps we’ll see you again this summer.” Mrs Malfoy seemed charmed by me, most witches and wizards were suspicious of the ease they felt around me (most muggles did too) but she seemed happy enough. Draco grunted a goodbye and I got out, running to the doorway and turning back to wave as the sleek vehicle drove off.  
Matron told me off for being out so long but otherwise, the evening was much the same, bad food, outright hostility, and then being locked in my room.  
I ached when I woke in the morning but the previous day seemed like a dream. I was forced to stay inside by the rain that had continued overnight and so had to do not only my own chores but most of the other children's chores as well, under threat of getting hurt again.  
I lay down that night and with the cold air, the sound of the rain, and my aching muscles it was hard to keep the emotions of the rest of the inhabitants of St Barts out of my head. As a result, I had a remarkably odd dream.  
Draco’s mother arrived at the home to collect me. Telling me she was taking me to see my father. She brought me back to her house in the beautiful car but wouldn’t answer any questions as we drove. At the manor, I was taken to the drawing-room where Draco and his father waited. I asked where my father was and they smiled, pointing at a long heavily polished table in front of the fireplace. There was a skeleton, bleached white and clean. Curling around it was a huge snake, its sinuous body wrapped around the old bones in a powerful embrace.   
“My Child.” a voice speaking a language I shouldn’t know but understood without needing to learn.  
I sat up in bed, I was shaking and felt ill. It was a little after midnight but I couldn’t get back to sleep. Whatever the dream meant was lost to me as I sat, shivering against the wall trying to calm myself until morning came.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn’t see Draco again for another week. I’d stopped looking for him by now, figuring he’d already lost interest in me.   
I was hiding in the kitchens, doing the washing up, when Matron called me to the front office. Draco was there with his father.   
“Miss Smith, this gentleman-” She smiled winsomely up at Mr Malfoy and entirely missed the utter disgust he returned her, “And his son has requested you join them for lunch today.”  
Draco rolled his eyes yet again but I was happy to see him.   
“Thank you, Mr Malfoy. I would be pleased to join you.” I said and Matron, for the first time, actually looked approving.  
“Do you have anything more appropriate to wear?” He asked with an eyebrow raised. I was dressed much the same as when he last saw me. Blue jeans with tears in the knees and a pale blue shirt that was at least a size too large.  
“Father.” Draco groaned and turned away.  
“I’m afraid our children have to make do with what they receive from generous members of the public.” Maton simpered.  
“Very well.” He ignored her and pointed to the car. I headed out with a cursory bob to Matron. She was smitten with Mr Malfoy, I’d be able to tell that from a mile away, empathic abilities or not.  
Once the car was moving Mr Malfoy turned to me in the backseat.  
“Understand this, girl, you have been invited by my wife who believes we should ‘be kind to you due to your circumstance’ you are in no way welcome in my home unless invited.” Draco huffed but his father locked eyes with me, he was full of irritation and it was aimed fully at me.  
“Yes, sir, of course. I’d never impose.” I say and this seems to mollify him.   
The remainder of the journey is in silence though it's by far more enjoyable than being back at the home.  
At the manor, I’m taken directly to the patio where Mrs Malfoy is waiting for us. There are trays of little sandwiches and pitchers of bright fruit juices sitting on the tables, though my eye is drawn to the little tiered tower of cakes and scones that overshadows everything.  
Mrs Malfoy claps her hands happily as we appear. I feel her distaste for a moment and worry its about me but I see her eyes focus on the three new bruises on my left arm and the small graze on my right temple.   
“Ah, Miss Smith, we’re so glad you could join us. Please take a seat.” She motions to a chair and I sit down, the rain disappeared yesterday, replaced by bright sunlight. Draco sits next to me and his mother sits as well. His father looks reluctant until he’s reprimanded by a single look from his wife. They’re stern and very imposing but I can feel the love they have for each other is very real and solid.  
I’m handed a plate with a few sandwiches and poured a drink.  
“Now, Miss Smith, I wanted you to know I’ve been asking around for you amongst the wizarding families.” Mrs Malfoy began. I did not have to look to know Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m afraid simply too many people went missing during the conflict years ago. It’s not impossible that you are pure-blooded but we may never know.”  
I put the sandwich I was eating down, I’ve lost my appetite.   
“I see, thank you very much for asking.” I’m polite but my hands are in fists under the table. I never wanted her to ask and now of course I owe her for doing so. Was everyone in this family manipulative?  
“It was my pleasure. I would have liked to have seen you reunited with your own people.” She smiles and her husband’s face is smooth as can be, though of course I know he’s annoyed.   
“Thank you,” I say weakly and she smiles again.  
“We do hope you’ll stay friends with dear, Draco. He so enjoyed your visit the other day and of course, your help with his schoolwork was invaluable.” Ah, there it is. “I do hope you’ll continue to be such a help.” I can feel Draco’s anger and embarrassment like real heat radiating off him.   
“Of course, ma’am.” I rely and she claps her hands happily.  
“See dear, I knew she’d help.” She touches her husband’s leg and I meet his eye. Pure hate.  
“It would be better to do that at Hogwarts though. I can’t help him with his schoolwork till I know what it is.” I try to smile and he arches his eyebrow at me, hate replaced by something else, he’s reassessing me.   
“Agreed.” He says with a small nod.  
After we’ve eaten I’m ushered upstairs with Draco ‘To play’. I follow him to his room and he sits on his bed with his arms crossed.  
“Ummm… Lunch was nice.” I offer and he glares at me. “Did I do something wrong? What was I supposed to say?” I sit on the floor, crossed legged, and look up at him.  
“Nothing.” He grumbles.   
We sit in silence for a few minutes before I get fed up and stand to go.  
“I’ll see you at school, Draco,” I say and he stands up suddenly.  
“Wait!”  
“What?” I turn.  
“It's just, I didn’t want them involved.” He deflates. “I had it all planned out.”  
“Really? Last time you bribed me with promises not to call me names anymore. What did you have this time?” I raise my eyebrow and a small smirk appears on his face.  
“Close the door.” He orders heading for his desk.   
I do as he asks and follow him, there are several new books, several by our new teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart’. Draco picks up one and pulls a piece of folded paper from between the pages and holds it out to me.  
I take it and unfold it, it's apparent its been torn from a book. The text is small but clear, outlining a potion called ‘Sanguine Revelare’. I looked up at Draco for a moment before reading on then having to sit down suddenly in his desk chair. It was a potion to reveal someone’s bloodline, it would name their entire family tree in fact.   
“I knew you’d want it!” Draco was so pleased with himself.   
I read the instructions and my heart fell. The process was complicated but not impossible, but one of the ingredients was just impossible to source. It required bloodroot, hemlock, nux myristica, Werewolf hair, and ground Basilisk scale.  
A basilisk hadn’t been seen in generations. There was no way I could get any scales, it was no wonder then that this potion hadn’t been mentioned to me before. Then there’s the issue of werewolf hair, how was I supposed to get any without getting attacked. They were not exactly known for their calm disposition.   
“So how about it. I got you this so you’ll tutor me.” He broke my thoughts and I had to smile. I hadn’t read it or didn’t understand what he’d read. He so separately wanted me to help him on his terms, not his parents.  
“Deal. We’ll see what our timetables look like then work out when we can meet.” I say and tuck the forlorn piece of paper into my pocket.  
He holds out his hand and I shake it.   
I want to cry, for a moment I had hope but now I felt worse than if I’d never known about the potion at all.


	3. Chapter 3

I was brought back to the manor several more times before the start of the new term. I was given Draco’s books to read and I did just that, interspaced with games of Quidditch and other little asides whenever Draco got bored.   
His mother seemed to be a little enamored with me, his father less so but appreciated that I treated his family with reverence and never asked for anything. I encountered their house-elf, Dobby, a few times. It was my first time meeting such a creature and honestly, I felt sorry for him. House-elves are slaves, essentially, and he was sorely mistreated. I noticed though that when Draco realized I was uncomfortable with his rough treatment of the poor thing he became a little less heavy-handed. While I was there anyway.   
On the morning I was to depart for London I had hoped that I’d see the sleek black car waiting outside but there was no such luck. I’d guessed that my arrangement with the Malfoys as their son's tutor/companion was not one that they wished to be made public and this confirmed it.  
I was taken to the station and left to fend for myself again, but at least I had my trunk back. I spent the entire journey to London making sure I’d caught up on all the required reading then headed straight for Kings cross the second I arrived.   
I was early again but decided not to hang around on the platform, climbing straight aboard and settling into a compartment. I watched the families appear one by one, milling on the platform as the students and parents chatted happily. I watched Draco and his parents arrive, plowing through the crowd to join their own friends.   
“You seem lonely.” A dreamy voice makes me jump.   
“Oh, hey Luna. What makes you think I’m lonely?” I smile at the odd Ravenclaw girl. Her long white-blonde hair is held back by a pink ribbon and her oddly mismatched clothes would make her stand out anywhere.   
“Sat all by yourself watching everyone else. It makes me feel lonely.” She said with an odd smile. I invited her to sit with me and she told me about her summer looking for Erumphants, a species I thought was nearly extinct.   
After a while we were joined by Jane and Petra who didn’t mind Luna sitting with us, they knew her from class and while she was thought of as strange she was a good-natured girl that was easy to get along with.   
I felt rather than saw Louise walk past, her distaste for me had not abated over the summer. If anything it had grown. I wondered what she’d think if she knew about the mistreatment I’d suffered from the other children or my new sleeping arrangements. She’d probably tell everyone in an effort to make herself seem interesting.  
I turned when I felt a moment of panic from the platform, I could see several people touching and knocking against the wall, it seemed the portal to return to Kings Cross had been closed, I hoped no students had gotten stuck on the other side. I spotted Hermione Granger milling around looking upset and I could guess who the students on the other side were.  
I resolutely told myself it wasn’t my problem.  
The ride to Hogwarts was fairly calm, when we reached the castle we were instructed, as second years, to climb aboard several carriages drawn by odd, boney looking winged creatures. They were not unlike horses but gave off an uneasy feeling. I realized quickly that only a few students could see them. I climbed onto the carriage and Luna sat next to me and leaned close to whisper.  
“They’re called Thestrals. You can only see them if you’ve seen someone die.” I swallowed, to my knowledge I’d never seen anyone die, unless my mother counted.   
That thought chilled me but I tried not to let it bother me as we approached the school. My stomach rumbled and I was glad of the idea of the feast to come.   
We sat in our houses as normal and watched as the first years were sorted, we gained twelve new housemates who all looked somewhat terrified, I wondered if I’d looked like that last year. Louise immediately started talking to them and I rolled my eyes at Petra who nodded. That could be troublesome.   
After the feast we headed to the basement, entering the common room was as much like coming home as I could imagine. The golden walls and soft armchairs made me feel I was where I was supposed to be.   
Louise didn’t join us in our room until it was nearly time for lights out. She didn’t speak but I could tell she was pleased about something. Jane had gained a pet over the summer, a little white cat she named ‘Flick’. As was normal for animals he took an instant liking to me and I had to push him to stay with his owner.  
As I lay down I let my awareness spread around me as far as I could without pushing myself. I was looking for any sign of the creeping evil from last year. Satisfied that it was absent I snuggled down to sleep, happy for now that I was safe from anything more than a hard-headed housemate.

Our timetable was almost exactly the same as last year. Most of the Professors welcomed us back with open arms (with the exception of Professor Snape, who sneered, and Professor Binns, who barely stopped talking long enough to notice us). Our new teacher was an interesting subject though.  
Gilderoy Lockhart was the (self-proclaimed) greatest adventurer and wizard on the planet. A fair proportion of the female students (and some of the boys if I was any judge) considered him to be pretty good looking. I’ll admit he was pretty but I could feel the narcissism that filled him to the brim and that made him seem ugly to me.  
I was convinced quite early on he had no idea what he was doing. In our first lesson, he released a whole swarm of cornish pixies into the room and then just left us to collect them without any instruction. Then he had us copy out whole sections from his books. Utterly boring and I felt we were not learning much.   
Harry and Ron had gotten themselves in trouble before the term even started. I’d been right in my assumption that they’d been unable to get onto the platform as the portal was closed but rather than wait for the problem to be fixed they’d stolen a flying car! The idiots were seen by dozens of muggles and were lucky they were not expelled.   
I said as much to Hermione and for once she agreed with me.   
Draco and I took to meeting at lunch on Tuesdays in the library. Unlike last year, however, he usually brought along Crabbe and Goyle who sat looking blank-eyed and bored while I helped Draco with his potions work as well as anything else he was struggling with. At first, it was awkward but I got the feeling that it wasn’t his idea to have them there, I guessed his parents didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about our relationship.   
Near Halloween, he did manage to see me once without them and it felt more like how we’d been over the summer. He teased me and I gave as good as I got which seemed to please him. He asked after the potion and I lied, telling him I was trying to get the ingredients via a mail-order catalog.  
My problem wasn’t him, or the classes, or even Professor Lockhart’s irritating teaching style. It was Louise.  
She’d managed to talk a number of first-years around to her way of thinking. They called me ‘Scum’ and seemed to spend their time thinking up new ways to upset or irritate me. My things turned up missing, I was tripped in the halls and on one occasion my quill was jinxed to only write backward.  
It was getting annoying.  
At Halloween I was pelted with pumpkin pies by several while I walked between the great hall and the library. I had to run to get away from them and then head back to the common room to change.  
I stopped in an empty hallway and looked around. I felt odd, giddy, and anxious. There was something nearby that wasn’t human but wasn’t a cat or a rat or a toad. It wasn’t a pet. It wasn’t a house elf or some poor vermin for Filch to catch.  
I felt it. Hunger and malice on a huge scale. Not evil. In the way, a bear trap or a gun isn’t evil. I turned this way and that but it felt like it was next to me.   
Then I heard it.  
A soft, flowing hissing voice uttering the same word over and over. Kill. Kill. Kill.  
I leaned against the wall and tried to focus on my breathing. Why couldn’t I go one year without some blasted thing trying to kill everyone?  
“You okay there, girl?” Filch turned the corner to see me there, I must have looked very pale. Unlike most of the students, Filch tended to be kinder to me, mostly due to his cat, Mrs Norris, enjoying my company but he seemed to respond to my empathic abilities better than most.   
“Yes, sorry. Just had a funny moment there.” I smiled at him and he narrowed his eyes. He knew I’d had a ‘seizure’ the previous year and I suppose he was just concerned I was about to have another.  
In reality of, course what happened was a lot more unclear. I’d reacted to events happening nearby as if they were happening to me. Why? I had no idea. I did know I was happy for it never to happen again.   
“Alright, you head on back to your house now.” He points and I do as he says, walking past him.  
The feeling of wrongness suddenly spiked and I gasped. I felt something familiar, someone I knew, their fear, and then nothing. Like trying to read a blank wall.  
I started to walk, my feet leading me not to the common room but up onto the second floor.   
There was water on the ground and blood in the air.  
I saw her before Filch did. If I’d had my wits about me I would have told poor Harry to run but it was too late. Mrs Norris was hanging from a light sconce and scrawled on the wall in her blood was a chilling message: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware"  
Filch was distraught and his cries brought students to us. He accused Harry who was innocent but his pain made me almost angry at Harry myself.  
Draco was somewhere in the crowd and snarled something about Mudbloods. I might have to have words with him about that soon.  
We were ordered back to our houses and I headed back. The common room was buzzing with what this could mean. I walked through like a zombie, washed, changed, and headed straight to bed.  
Jane checked on me but I assured her I was okay, just the shock of finding Mrs Norris had made me feel ill.  
Never a dull moment here.


	4. Chapter 4

I decided the next morning to stay the hell out of it. I was fed up with wizard intrigue and wanted to just get on with my studies. I just went to class, did my homework, hung around with Jane and Petra, and generally stayed out of things. With Draco being chaperoned during our tutoring sessions even those were free of gossip.  
I lasted nearly a month before it all went to hell. Again.  
In that time there were several more people found petrified. Including the Gryffindor House Ghost which was odd. Our own ghost, the fat monk, decided the best course of action was to sequester himself in the basement and eat constantly.   
As a result, it was decided that we would be taught to defend ourselves in a more practical fashion. A dueling club was founded.   
I went along with Jane for the first session, thinking I might at least learn something that Lockhart had failed to cover in his frankly lackluster lessons.  
He and Professor Snape had set up a platform with a pattern on it that presumably laid out where you were supposed to stand in an official duel. I watched with joy as Snape trounced Lockhart during their demonstration. I’d cherish the memory of Lockhart’s face as he flew backward for a very long time.  
They called up two students to practice and of course, who should they pick but Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. It was written in the stars for these two to hate each other, it really was.  
They reenacted the Professors duel for a moment or two. Flinging spells at each other with abandon until Draco was knocked over onto his butt. The crowd tittered but as he got up he locked eyes with me and I mouthed a spell to him that we’d discussed just the other day.  
He stood and immediately cast it.   
It was a spell meant to intimidate rather than harm but it was pretty effective. A snake slithered out from his wand and landed, hissing onto the platform. I’d mentioned it to him as a spell ‘all Slytherins should know’ and he’d taken that to heart.   
I expected Harry to back off after his attempts to fling the creature aside failed. The last thing I thought would happen was for him to step forward and talk to it.   
It had changed its focus to a boy in the crowd, a fellow Hufflepuff I barely knew called Justin, and Harry just stepped up and told it to back off.   
The snake asked him where it was and why he’d been hitting it and Harry apologized, telling it not to hurt anyone.   
It wasn’t till I looked around at everyone’s faces that I realized he wasn’t speaking to it in english. Of course not.   
This was parseltongue. Harry Potter could speak parseltongue. I could understand him. I could speak it too.   
Snape sent the beast back where it came from and the club dispersed. What happened next was inevitable and I felt sorry for Harry. Parseltongue is not a language you learn, it's one you know. It’s an ability that ran in bloodlines. Most notably the line of Salazar Slytherin.  
Guess who everyone thought the heir of Slytherin was now?  
Poor Harry.

I watched Harry and his friends carefully after that. It's easy to keep an eye on people when you can watch them from other parts of the building. They were meeting regularly in the second-floor girls bathroom.   
If that seems weird do bare in mind that the most annoying ghost I have met (including the ever-interesting Peeves) happens to live in those toilets. Moaning Myrtle.   
Everyone avoided those toilets so it was actually a great place to hide out.  
I was content to let them carry on with whatever they were doing, I was simply watching in order to effectively stay away (or that was what I was telling myself anyway). That is until Christmas.  
Once again I’d stayed for Christmas break. This year several more students did the same. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Louise, a fair few of her new fan club, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were amongst the crowd who were there for the holidays.   
Jane and Petra once again sent a few little things as gifts on Christmas morning, Darell and George sent cards and oddly I got a small box of chocolates from Draco’s parents as well. He’d been passing pretty much everything with pretty good grades and they thanked me. They were apparently off at a retreat with their friends and so Draco had to stay here. He didn’t seem overly bothered by it, happy to walk around in the snow with his cronies.   
In fact, out of mischief, I threw a snowball at him as we passed on the grounds and began a huge snowball fight between Slytherin and Hufflepuff which had to be broken up by the teachers. He and I had been at the center of it and in order to avoid getting in trouble he grabbed my arm and we ran inside the castle.   
We didn’t say much but he wished me a Merry Christmas and gave me a sincere smile that kept me warm for most of the day.   
My happiness wasn’t to last however as after dinner I was sent running from our common room as Louise and her little friends simply wouldn’t leave me alone. They threw the parchment was writing on in the fire and constantly harassed me until I couldn’t take it anymore.   
I walked back towards the great hall, thinking I’d grab a cake and some juice to calm me down. On my way I passed Crabbe and Goyle. Or at least two people who looked like them.   
I did a double-take as they turned the corner and closed my eyes to seek them out. I shook my head and turned away from the great hall to head up the stairs.  
It’s nice to be right sometimes.  
I opened the door to the girl's bathroom carefully and once I was sure no one was about to hex me I stepped in. I could hear watery giggling and saw Myrtle looking uncharacteristically happy, sat on top of the sinks.  
“What’s so funny?” I asked and she turned to me with the biggest grin.  
“Oh, it’s awful, simply awful!” She managed before falling back into giggles.  
I heard a sound from one of the cubicles, though I already knew who was in it.  
“Hermione, there’s no point in hiding. I know you’re there.” I called out, walking further in. On the floor was a little cauldron with the remains of something gooey in it. The smell was unmistakable.  
“Go away!” She snapped and her voice sounded odd. Come to think of it, the feelings I could read of hers were odd too. A lot of panic mixed with a helping of fear and shame.  
“Hermione let me help.” I sighed. She just told me to go away again.   
I settled back to wait for the boys to return.   
It didn’t take long and if they were shocked at my being there they were even more shocked by Hermione’s appearance. A cat hair in polyjuice potion, what an idiot.  
I did them a favor and helped get her to the medial wing then marched them back to the bathroom and demanded an explanation.   
Ron was initially resistant but I guess I looked intimidating as he caved quickly.  
“We thought maybe it was Malfoy who was doing this so we-” He trailed off but I could fill in the blanks. Harry just looked at the floor while Myrtle hovered nearby. He was angry and disappointed.  
“Well of course it wasn’t Draco,” I said, crossing my arms. He looked up at me, brow knotted.  
“What do you mean?” His green eyes were nearly luminous in the dark.  
“The Malfoys aren't descended from Slytherin. They were his friends but they never intermarried with his family.” I said and he and Ron looked at each other.  
“You know this, how?” Ron asked and I rolled my eyes in a way Draco would be proud of.  
“Nature’s Nobility. I read it over the summer.” I explained.  
“Great another book nerd,” Ron muttered and he shuffled away from me a little.  
“Look, I’m sorry this didn’t turn out like you wanted but you’re not going to convince anyone it’s not you by slinking around like this.”  
“Well, what am I supposed to do!” Harry exploded. “Everyone thinks I’m the one doing this, all because I can speak to snakes. I didn’t ask for this ability!”  
I stepped back from him. He was furious, but not with me. He wanted everyone to stop looking at him like he was some kind of monster. I understood that. He felt alone, unable to understand what he was or what was going on.  
I did the only thing I could think of to calm him down.  
“I’m here to help you,” I said, my tongue sliding over the odd sounds for the first time.  
“Did you just-” Ron spoke first while Harry’s eyes went wide.  
“You’re not alone here,” I spoke in parseltongue again and I felt his despair loosen. If he wasn’t the only one then there was hope.


	5. Chapter 5

After Christmas with the exams looming, I did my best to help Harry and Ron with their ham-fisted attempts to find out who the ‘Heir of Slytherin’ was. I double-checked the books with them and none of the current big wizarding families had a major connection to the founder of house Slytherin. I thought of maybe asking their house ghost, The Bloody Baron, but got shouted down.  
I also pointed out several times that the teachers would be looking for the culprit and even the Ministry was getting involved. Unfortunately, the boys were convinced that all the adults involved were either oblivious or morons. A dangerous attitude.  
They muttered about missing Hermione quite often (or Ron did anyway) and Harry was quite nervous about me since I revealed I could speak to snakes as he did. I wasn’t surprised when she was released from the hospital wing that they shut me out again.   
Seems there was only room for one girl in their little band. Plus due to my association with Draco, they still mistrusted me, despite my assertions that I was only his tutor and nothing more.   
I’d found them huddled in the library discussing something Harry found. They shut up as soon as I approached and Hermionie gave me a look that I’m sure she thought would intimidate me.   
“Hey, what's up? You’re looking better, how do you feel?” I smiled at them but Ron turned away and Harry kept his eyes down.  
“Much better, thank you.” Hermione's response was curt, she should be thankful I didn’t spread around what had happened to her. I didn’t even make a comment about how cute she’d looked with fuzzy ears.  
“Have you found anything?” I try to look at the book Harry has open but he covers it with his arm.  
“Fay, we’re glad you offered to help but-” Harry began.  
“But?” I echoed but I didn’t need to ask. I could feel their suspicion, anxiety, and fear.   
“Look, until we can rule you out as-” Hermionie began and I held up a hand.  
“You think it’s me, don’t you?” I took a deep breath and shook my head. “You guys are so wrapped up in yourselves as the heroes, aren't you? Well if you happen to change your minds you know where I am.”  
I turned and left as fast as I could. I felt Harry’s shame, Ron’s embarrassment, and Hermione’s satisfaction. They all stang in equal measure.   
Halfway back to the common room and Louise appeared, followed by her usual tail of first years. They began to spit their vile nonsense at me. Accusing me of dating Draco. Dating Harry. Two-timing them. Of cheating on my homework, of stealing, of anything and everything.   
When I didn’t respond they started to throw things, papers, quills, food. I guessed this wasn’t a random attack, they’d been waiting for me. Even the Slytherins last year hadn’t been so thorough. And they couldn’t follow me into the common room as they could.  
I diverted down hallways, ran up and downstairs but I couldn’t lose them. I prayed for FIlch or a teacher or even one of the ghosts just to stop them. The words and things they flung at me weren’t as bad as the emotions that they were emitting. Disgust and joy in what they were doing. They hated me with such passion it was overwhelming. I barely knew their names and yet here they were pelting me with anything they could get their hands on.  
Louise changed the tone after a while. At first, it was mainly making fun of any relationships I could have and how poor I was. Then it changed to my abilities as a witch and at last with one triumphant stroke, stoked by Louise’s awful ideas, they began to call for the ‘Heir of Slytherin’ to kill me.   
I could barely breathe as I tried to flee across the grounds but they pursued me. I ducked into one of the greenhouses and hid under a potting table while they milled around outside, trying to find me.  
“He’ll get you, Scum! Soon we’ll find you dead in the halls and we can all dance on your grave!” I could hear them laughing and chattering, pleased with themselves.  
After a while, they gave up and left. I stayed under the table until it started getting dark. It took that long for me to calm down. How in the world do you stop such reckless and unfounded hate? I thought of turning to Professor Sprout, but unless the students were expelled I doubted detention would be helpful.   
Fighting back would be useless, one wand against ten had one conclusion.   
I was at a loss.   
I slunk back into the castle and stopped off in a girl's bathroom to look at myself and try and clean up a bit. I was covered in ink and coated in various sticky things that I didn't want to identify. It was in my hair, all over my clothes and I could feel it in one of my shoes.  
I ran some warm water, at least I could wash my face and hands now then head back to my room where I could get cleaned up properly. It was dinnertime so the hallways were empty, if I took a roundabout route I could avoid too many students seeing me.   
The door banged open and someone came in. I heard the cackle and my hands turned to fists.  
“Looking good, Scum!” She sauntered up to me and leaned on the sink next to mine. “Trash like you ought to dress this way, so people stay away from you.” I looked at her pretty face and blonde ringlets. How could someone so attractive be so rotten inside?  
I dried my hands and turned to leave.  
“Where do you think you’re going?” She’d pulled out her wand and had it pointed at me. She was unbelievably excited. She was going to hex me and leave me here.  
“Why?” I finally snapped. “Why do you hate me so damn much?”  
“Because you’re scum. A stupid piece of human trash who thinks she’s so much smarter than those around her. Well, I’m going to put you back in the bin where you belong!” She raised her wand to cast but I didn’t give her the chance.  
I rushed her and pinned her hands onto the basin behind her, staring into her shocked eyes.  
“YOU WILL LEAVE ME ALONE.” I saw my eyes flash, my reflection an ugly creature I never wanted to be. The command echoed through the room and I felt it hit home.   
Her will dissolved and she crumpled, crying out that she was sorry before I released her and she ran from me, slamming the door open and tearing down the hall.   
I stood stock-still, the only sounds were my own heartbeat and the gentle drip of water.   
I just made it to the toilet in time to empty my guts into it. When I was sure I had nothing else to expel I sat on the cold tiles and wrapped my arms around myself.  
I hated myself so much for what I just did. I did the one thing I swore I’d never do again. I took her will and I tore it to shreds. She would do exactly as I told her, no doubt. She would also likely be utterly terrified of me from now on. Her little fan club would hopefully stop without her egging them on but this was not how I wanted it.  
The look on my own face as I forced my way into her head was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. Maybe Harry was right to suspect me.


	6. Chapter 6

I was right. Louise was terrified of me now but she couldn’t explain to anyone why. All she could say is that I’d shouted at her in the toilets. This made her new friends decide she was a coward and without her influence, they lost interest in me.   
I promised myself that no matter what, even if someone was ready to kill me, I’d never use that power again.   
I was so wrapped up in my self-loathing that even Draco noticed but didn’t comment. I barely noticed the other students who were attacked, I just wanted the year to be over.   
On my way back to the common room I was grabbed roughly and pulled into an empty classroom. I was about to scream when I realized I’d been grabbed by Harry and Ron who looked more upset than I’d ever seen them.  
Hermione had been attacked. She was in the hospital wing, paralyzed just like the others. They knew it couldn’t be me as I was in the great hall with them when it happened.   
“So now what?” I sigh, putting my hand over my eyes.   
Harry explained about the strange possessed diary he’d found and then lost. How it showed him a vision of the last time the chamber of secrets was opened. Apparently last time a girl hadn’t just been paralyzed but killed outright and Hagrid had been blamed.   
“If it was Hagrid then why was he kept as gamekeeper?” I asked and they didn’t know either. “Well I suppose we’d better ask but we’ll have to go tomorrow. It’s nearly curfew.”  
“Not for us.” Harry smiled slightly and held up something velvety.   
An invisibility cloak. I almost slapped myself for being so dense. How else were they getting around at night, unseen? There were several such cloaks in existence, they usually lost power after a few years but Harry mentioned this was his father's cloak. Odd that it should still be so effective after such a long time.  
We snuck through the castle and the grounds towards Hagrid’s hut. It was a squat little house on the very edge of the forest, smoke wafting lazily from the chimney. It looked welcoming enough but I was wary. Hagrid always gave me the impression he was smarter than he let the world know.   
Harry knocked and Hagrid practically pulled us inside.   
“What do you think yer doin creepin around with all this goin on!” He admonished us as Harry pulled the cloak off. “Ere what’s she doin here?” He pointed at me but before we could answer his huge dog made a huffing noise at the door.  
“Quick back under the cloak!” He stuffed us in a corner where we huddled under the invisibility cloak.  
There was a knock and Hagrid opened the front door to three men who enter quickly. Two I recognized easily. Professor Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy. The last I only knew from his picture in the papers, Cornelius Fudge, the minister for magic.   
They explained that they were there to take Hagrid away, accusing him of being the reason for the attacks, referencing those that happened many years ago. I had to wrap my arms around Harry and Ron to stop them from rushing in to stop them. No good would come of them finding us. I was still frightened of Lucius Malfoy and didn’t dare confront him. He and Fudge then turned to the Headmaster and informed him that he was being suspended and needed to leave Hogwarts immediately. I had to hold on even harder to the boys.   
Dumbledore left gracefully but spoke to the open air, presumably knowing that we were there, claiming that ‘help would always be provided at Hogwarts for those who need it’. If that weren't confusing enough to Fudge and Malfoy Hagrid then piped up to tell the air (us) that if we wanted answers to ‘follow the spiders’, oh and to look after his dog.  
Luckily Fudge and Malfoy didn’t bother investigating why they were acting so strangely and left, closing the door behind them. We waited till we were sure they were gone then pulled off the cloak.  
“I can’t believe they’re taking Hagrid to Azkaban, it can’t be him doing this!” Harry and Ron began arguing about the next step while I knelt to comfort Fang, Hagrid's huge Boarhound.   
“He said follow the spiders,” I said to interject and they stopped fighting to look at me.  
“She’s right Ron.” Harry looked at his best friend who was looking paler by the second.   
“Why couldn’t it be, follow the butterflies?” He squeaked.

Less than twenty minutes later and we were trapesing through the woods, following a faint trail of spiders as they filed through the trees. I could feel the tiny creatures easily enough, making sure not to tread on them as we walked, Fang whining and pulling on his leash alongside us.  
Ron whimpered along with him while Harry attempted to put on a brave face. It seemed he was refusing to show fear in front of me. Typical Gryffindor bravado.  
As we made our way through the trees the spiders got larger and larger. I could feel them more sharply and they were not pleased we were here. This was their home, their territory and we were in no way welcome except as a meal.   
At last, we reached what seemed to be the central nest, inside in the shadows was a huge hulking figure. A spider near enough the size of a bus, its mind was slow but strong and it was curious enough to speak to us before deciding if it would eat us or not.   
It speaks to us in a ponderous but strong voice and reveals its name; ‘Aragog’.   
Harry asks about Hagrid's involvement in the Chamber of secrets. I feel it recoil at its recollection and its pain in having caused Hagrid harm. Instinctually, as I would to any distressed animal, I soothed it silently. Aragog was more sly than I gave it credit though and could feel what I was doing.  
It told of Hagrid’s innocence then turned to me while the boy's relief washed over me.  
“You, girl, you may leave here. You are respectful of us and see us as creatures of worth. Much like Hagrid.” I met its blind eyes and stepped back, bowing slightly to this, the King of Spiders. “They however will remain. I will not deny my children fresh meat. Farewell, friends of Hagrid.”  
“Run!” I shouted and the boys rushed to depart. True to his word the smaller spiders did not attack me and I was able to leave after them, trying to find an escape route for Harry, Ron, and Fang.   
As we ran I was met with the strangest sight, a battered, baby blue Ford Anglia burst through the undergrowth and stopped in front of us, throwing open its doors. We didn’t hesitate and scrambled inside.   
It rumbled through the woods, throwing off several spiders that attempted to stop us and I felt at least one become severely injured only to be consumed by its siblings. Once we reached the edge of the trees it opened its doors again and ejected us forcefully onto the glass before trundling back into the trees. A feral car on the same day as an elephant-sized spider. What a day.  
The boys drop me off in the basement without saying much. That little episode didn’t confirm much except that Hagrid wasn’t to blame, and so the threat was still here.


	7. Chapter 7

Draco was unbelievably excited during our study session a few days later. He was nearly bouncing in his seat.  
“Did you hear that annoying swot Hermionie got caught by the Heir? Serves her right, the filthy Mudblood!”   
“Draco, please try to concentrate. The exams aren't long away and you need to get the hang of this.” I try to change the subject.   
After a few moments, I catch him looking at me strangely.   
“What now?” I snap and he smirks.  
“Louise was going on about you yelling at her. She said you have scary red eyes. She must be losing her mind, your eyes are brown.” He chuckled, “And not the least bit scary.”  
“You didn’t think so when I smacked you last year.” I put down my quill and raised my eyebrows. Crabbe and Goyle were lounging nearby but they didn’t seem to be paying any attention at all. In fact, I was sure Goyle was asleep.  
“I wasn’t scared.” Draco blushed deeply.  
“Yeah, right.” I turned back to the book we were using and turned the page.  
“Okay, you were a bit scary. Why didn’t you hit her?” I sighed at his question.  
“Maybe you’re just special,” I say through gritted teeth. “Now can we get on with this?”  
He smirked again, nothing pleased him more than thinking he was better than someone else. The idea that he’d bothered me more than Louise was pleasing to his twisted little ego. I wish I had hit her. Anything but what I had done.  
He did let me continue after that. His grades had been consistently high all year and I was sure his parents were pleased. He’d been made seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team, just as he said but the trick was he’d not had to try out at all. His father had simply ‘donated’ a Nimbus 2001 to every player as well as a smart new uniform. I’d watched Pansy Parkinson fawning all over him when he first showed it off. The only thing that he had to do to keep the position was to keep his grades high, that was why he had me.  
We finished our session early and I headed off to grab a quick bite before my next lesson. I notice that everyone seems on edge, I’m not surprised, all things considered.   
While I’m eating a sandwich I feel a strange tug on my senses. Like something or someone was trying to get my attention. I look around the room but no one was looking at me. I ask Darell, who was sitting nearby, if he’d said something but he just shook his head.  
It hit me again as I was sitting down in class. This time it was stronger. It felt like it was below me, underground perhaps. Something pulling on my attention.   
I had no time to investigate as on leaving my class Harry and Ron appeared and started to bombard me with information, pushing a scrap of paper into my hands.   
They were speaking so quickly I could barely understand but I got the two facts I needed. The thing that was attacking people was a Basilisk, an ancient serpent that could kill with a direct look, and it had Ron’s sister.  
While I was in class there had been another message left in blood on the wall: “Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever”. This message apparently meant Ron’s sister was somewhere in the school, alone and possibly dying.  
We discussed the Basilisk as we headed to the only one we could think of to help, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.  
We ran into the room and explained, urging him to follow us as between us we’d worked out that the entrance to the Chamber must be under the Second Floor Girls Toilets. The serpent moved through the pipes so it could get anywhere in the school undetected and the girl who was killed last time was now known to everyone as Moaning Myrtle.   
Lockhart was less than impressed with us. He’d been clutching a bag as we entered his room and we realized he was intending to run. Fear and shame with a bit of anger were filling him up. We accused him of being a coward and rather than deny it he admitted to being a fraud. Apparently, he’d taken credit for dozens of other wizards accomplishments, the only thing he could lay claim on was being a remarkable self-publicist. That and a talent for obliviation spells.   
Harry was too quick for him, however. As he drew his wand Harry struck and it flew from his hand. Rather than leave him we opted to bring him to the chamber with us, he may still be of use and we didn’t have time to explain to anyone else.  
In the toilets, Harry asked Myrtle how she died and we both turned to the set of basins set in the centre of the room. He locked eyes with me and whispered the word ‘open’ in parseltongue. I suppose to Ron and Lockhart it was little more than a rasping breath but I could understand, a shiver ran through me at that.   
The basins split apart and lifted into the air, revealing a deep hole. We looked down but it was simply too dark to see. Ron and Harry shared a look before pushing Lockhart down it. Honestly, I would have laughed if this weren't such a tense situation. The sound he made as he fell was better than the look on his face when Snape threw him across the room.  
As it turned out not to be far we followed after. I landed with a grunt on top of Ron. Harry was already up while we disentangled ourselves. Once I was up I knew why he was acting strangely, this place was familiar yet unfamiliar. There was an atmosphere of dread in these tunnels, compounded by the thin layer of rat skeletons on the floor.  
“That’s far enough!” Lockhart broke the silence, he’d snatched up Ron’s wand from the floor. He intended to obliviate us then and there, to give some back story about us losing our minds after finding Ron’s sister torn apart.  
I was ready to act, despite my promise, to turn his mind in on itself to save us but the fool did it himself. Ron’s wand was infamously bad and as Lockhart cast his spell, a remarkably potent mind wiping hex, it rebounded onto him, knocking him back into the wall and making the ground shake.  
It was so powerful the tunnel started to cave in. I reached for Harry but Ron grabbed me, pulling me out of the way in time as the roof collapsed in front of me.   
“Harry!” Ron shouted and shouted until faintly we heard him.   
He intended to go on ahead while we tried to clear a way out. I understood, there was no other way. We started pulling at the pile of debris blocking the path, it would take a while but we could probably make a hole big enough.  
Lockhart woke up not long after, it was clear he’d destroyed any memories he had of anything. On an unspoken agreement, we chose to knock him out with a sleeping charm rather than deal with him bumbling around.   
I felt it when Harry entered the Chamber and found Ginny. I felt his distress and hopeless fear. Then I felt something else. It was the thing that had been pulling on me, the familiar touch made me faint.  
“You okay?” Ron touched my arm and I realized I was shaking.  
“I don’t feel well, Ron. I need to sit down.” I manage and he helps me sit against the tunnel wall before going back to pulling at the rocks.  
I close my eyes and try to make sense of what I am sensing. One moment there are two people in the Chamber, then three, then two again. One keeps winking in and out of existence but I know it. Him.   
It’s the thing that was living as a parasite inside Quirrell. The thing that still made me wake in a cold sweat.   
It was doing something to Ginny, draining her life to feed its own. I felt Harry’s anger, disappointment, and fear. The fear growing stronger by the second till my own heart was beating too hard, too fast.  
A screech above us and something gold and scarlet flew down the hole from the toilets and hit the wall of rocks hard, smashing through and continuing on as if nothing had happened. I opened my eyes to see Ron looking utterly confused. There was a hole just big enough to fit your arm through now, it was a start.  
I closed my eyes again as there was a wave of triumph from Harry, I felt it then. The golden thing was a bird of some kind. Unfathomably old and full of righteous fire. The only word that fitted it was Phoenix.   
I feel the Basilisk’s arrival and silently urge Harry to run. He did as I wished as if he were running from the sinister joy emanating from the thing killing Ginny rather than the beast chasing him. There was a stab of pain followed by another, then a rush of rage from the Basilisk and its master. It was confusing and angry, it was blind.   
“There! Got it!” I opened my eyes to see Ron had made a hole big enough to squirm through. I got up and clambered towards it.   
“Stay here!” I ordered.  
“Hey! Not on your life. Why should I stay?” He grabbed my arm and I did what I could to soothe him.  
“Because I have a wand that works,” I say and he grimaces before releasing me and stepping back.  
I wriggle through and run once I reach the other side. There’s a huge door ahead and I dash through, everything beyond is damp and echoes unsettlingly. The walls are covered in carvings of faces.   
I turn the corner just as the Basilisk strikes. Harry is holding a sword I’ve never seen before and manages to drive it into the awful thing's brain. I’m frozen, not by the thrashing serpent but by the ghostly figure standing near to Harry. It was a handsome young man whose pleasant looks were ruined by his rage. This was the source of the feeling, the deep and unending evil. I saw the connection, as clear as day between it and Ginny.   
“Harry!” I called and ran towards him as he slumped sideways, clutching his arm.   
“You’re too late, girl.” The ghost addressed me as I skidded down to Harry’s side. “He’s already dying, the Basilisk’s poison has no cure. It won’t be long.”  
“The diary,” Harry growled and I helped him grab the small black book, its pages swollen from water and its cover scuffed. I felt his intent even though his hands were getting weaker.   
I helped him grab the tooth the beast had left in his arm and drive it into the book.  
The apparition scrambled and I felt it. I felt what it felt. By the time it had dissolved to nothing, there were tears rolling down my face.   
Ginny woke and I moved to her, she was confused but getting stronger.  
“You need to get her out of here.” He told me and I started to coax her up. I coil feel it,he was dying. His heart was slowing as the poison spread. There was nothing I could do. Ginny resisted as I pulled at her. Harry didn’t want her to see him die, I didn’t want to see him die either.   
A call from above and the Phoenix landed next to the fading hero. Harry called it ‘Fawkes’ and it bowed its head to look closely at the wound.   
Even as it healed him I understood. Phoenix tears are the cure for pretty much anything. I let go of Ginny who scrambled over to him. They both laughed as she hugged him. I could see the beginnings of real affection there, like a tiny budding flower.   
I helped them up and Harry began limping back to the entrance. I scooped up the remains of the diary, the sword and for some inexplicable reason, the sorting hat was here. Turning to the remains of the Basilisk I realized this was my chance. Probably my only chance.  
Using the sword I cut off a sizable chunk of its scales and shoved them into my pocket before running after the man of the hour and his damsel in distress.


	8. Chapter 8

It took a day and a night to get things straightened out. Harry had a meeting with Dumbledore once he returned. I was due to see him afterward. I was met on my way there by Lucius Malfoy. I greeted him respectfully and walked behind him. As we turned into the hallway leading to the office he faced me.  
“I understand you somehow got involved in all this... unpleasantness.” He stood his silver-headed cane in front of him, placing both hands on it. He was accompanied today by his unfortunate house Elf who looked at me nervously.  
“Not on purpose, sir,” I say, eyes downward. “I was asked for help and I gave it, I didn’t mean for it to get this far.”  
“My advice, girl, is that from now on you should stick to your own business.” His voice was level but I had to stop myself from wincing at his underlying anger.  
“Yes, sir,” I say and he walks on, heading straight into the office, leaving me outside with Dobby.   
“Are you okay, Miss Fay?” He asked and I forced myself to smile.  
“Yes, I’m fine thank you. I probably won’t be at the house again. I hope you have a good summer.” I say and he nods in understanding. I know he was the one who tried to help Harry earlier in the year. Causing silly accidents and breaking things in an effort to keep him from school. I wonder, if he had succeeded would I have noticed what was happening in time, or would I have ended up like poor Myrtle.  
My blood status was in question after all. At least until I got the other components to go with the vial of scales I had hidden in my trunk.   
Lucius came out of the office quickly, followed closely by Harry. I watched, mouth agape as he accused Lucius of having planted the diary then found a way of forcing him to give a sock to his house-elf, thus freeing him from his service.  
If I’d thought the elder Malfoy was angry before, I was mistaken. He pulled out his wand from his cane and pointed it head at Harry.  
Before the spell could leave his lips Dobby stepped between them and using magic I had no idea House Elves had he flung his former master backward to sprawl on the floor.   
“Go!” I hissed at Harry who gave me a merry grin before disappearing, new partner in crime in tow.   
I ran to Malfoys side and helped him to his feet. He shook me off and I stood back.  
“Young lady, if I ever catch you with that-” He pointed after Harry but the word died on his lips as Dumbledore emerged, a look of mild amusement on his face. Lucius inhaled deeply before starting again. “If I ever catch you with that boy, you will no longer be permitted to socialize with my son. Do you understand?”  
“Yes, sir,” I replied quickly and he stormed off.  
I and Dumbledore watched him go before he waved me into his office.   
It was a beautiful space, lined with books and shelves of mysterious objects. Fawkes sat on a perch near the huge desk, on which was the sword Harry had used to slay the Basilisk. Dumbledore sat down and looked at me levelly, the door shut softly behind me of its own accord while generations of former headmasters looked down from their portraits.  
“Young Lady it seems you have once again inserted yourself into events.” He wasn’t angry but he wasn’t happy with me. I was disrupting his plans somehow.  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Again you managed to scrabble by unhurt. I should like to warn you that your luck may well run out.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“May I ask what possessed you to get involved? To not get a teacher to help.” I had to suppress a smile.  
“But we did, sir. Professor Lockhart was with us.” I raise my eyebrows and he meets my eye cooly.  
“You know what I mean, young lady.” He warns.   
“Yes, sir. In fact, I did advise Harry to go to you or Professor McGonagall several times.” He hums in response. “May I ask a question, sir?”  
“Go ahead, I may not necessarily answer it.” He sits back to wait for me to ask.  
“Is it going to come back?”  
“You are dismissed, Miss Smith.”   
In a grand ceremony, Hagrid returns to the school and the paralyzed students are returned to their houses. I do my best to keep a happy face even after Dumbledore cancels all exams and invalidates my hard work with Draco over the past few months. Malfoy looks ecstatic, however. I think I and Hermione might be the only ones upset by that announcement.

I can name the thing that’s been haunting me now. A name that most people won’t say without fear.   
I’ve felt its anger and triumph and pain.   
I never want to feel it again.  
Next year I’ll stay far away from Harry Potter, as I have an idea that all this trouble is centered on him.  
I avoid him and Draco on the train home and avoid them again at Kings Cross. If His father truly did plant the diary then I need to stay away from them too.   
For the first time, St Barts actually feels like the safest place to be. The feeling only lasts for a moment but I grab hold of it.   
I just need to stay out of it. I will.   
I will.


End file.
